One of Ashby Shores’ earliest memories was falling asleep to bedtime stories read by his father, a third-year law student at the time.
These were no ordinary nighttime tales like “Goodnight Moon” or “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” His father, Ryan Shores, a 2003 graduate of the UVA School of Law, read aloud from his casebooks to lull his son to sleep.

Ashby Shores is following in his father’s footsteps, going to law school. His father, Ryan, was in torts class at UVA Law when he learned his wife was in labor with Ashby. (Contributed photo)
“I remember it being fairly incomprehensible,” Ashby Shores acknowledges now. Then again, he was only a toddler.
Now, 22 years later, Ashby Shores will attend UVA Law this fall, an event that evokes in his parents a sense of nostalgia.
After leaving an advertising career in New York, father Ryan Shores remembers his first visit to Grounds with his wife, April, as a perfect day – sunlight filtering through the Lawn’s trees, students picnicking on the grass and the distant pings of softball bats mixed with cheers.
“Both April and I just immediately fell in love,” Ryan Shores said. “It felt like such a reprieve from that hectic world, and if we were going to be parents in law school, we sure did want to be somewhere where people enjoyed their law school time and were supportive of one another.”
Their decision made, the couple bought a $2,000 Honda Civic spotted on a New York City street and packed their meager belongings. April Shores wedged a box fan between the dashboard and her pregnant belly.